Things Change
by crazyfanfic
Summary: Luke and Lorelai are getting married, and Rory and Jess are the maid of honor. Rory took the year off at Yale and is working at the diner.
1. Chapter 1

"Jess…" Luke pleaded.

"Absolutely not."

"Please?"

"Do you not understand the word no?"

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?" Luke hated doing this, but he really needed his nephew to be there. Jess was a big part of Luke's life and besides, he couldn't think of another best man.

"Um…no. You and Lorelai can just get married without a best man. That solves everything. Or better yet, just don't get married at all!" Jess knew that he was going to go to the wedding and be the best man, but he almost perversely enjoyed making his uncle squirm.

"What! What kind of supportive relative are you?"

"The one that's not supportive." Jess replied, mocking Luke.

"But…but…I told Lorelai you'd be there. I told her that I had the whole best man thing covered! She's gonna kill me when she finds out that I don't actually have a best man." Luke was getting frustrated.

Jess, on the other hand, was having a lot of fun with this. "Lorelai is going to kill you before the wedding one way or another, so it's better to get it over with now, right?" Jess smirked.

"Jess!"

Jess decided that maybe this was the time to let up. He was sure that his uncle was probably not in the mood for joking anyway. "Yes, fine, I'll do it. But I'm not wearing anything pink or one of those waist things that looks like a huge belt."

"A cummerbund?" Luke asked.

"Yes. I'm not wearing one of those."

"But you have to! It's like part of the dress code."

"Just to clue you in, there is no dress code for weddings, and besides, when have I ever followed dress code? Certainly not in high school. You really think I've changed that much?"

"No."

"Point proven. Now I have to go. I'm cooking dinner and if I don't get off the phone soon it's going to burn."

"You're cooking?"

"Yes, I'm cooking. Are you happy now?"

Luke chuckled to himself. "Ok ok, I'll let you go back to your cooking." _Hehe_

"Thank you. Goodbye." And with that, Jess hung up.

Luke was still laughing when he hung up the phone. Just then, Lorelai came banging into the diner and nearly broke the bell hanging above the door. "Coffee! Aspirin!" She yelled in his general direction.

Luke knew better than to get in her way when she was in need of medicine, so he ran to the back and came back out with an entire pot of coffee and enough pain medication to die from if taken in large quantities.

"Thank you, Oh Holy One." Lorelai looked at Luke in admiration. She never got over how this man could just produce the things she needed without her having to ask twice. She could barely believe that he was actually going to marry her. _I certainly don't deserve him._

Luke, on the other hand, fully believed that he was way below her standard. _This woman gave birth to a child when she was sixteen, yet look where she is now. I don't really understand why she wants to marry me. She could have any guy in the world, and she chooses the diner guy?_ He gazed at her admiringly, and they locked gazes.

"Thanks, hun, but I gotta go. Sookie needs me at the Inn. And you know that if I leave Michel too long bad things will happen."

"Yeah. Oh, hey I got us a best man!"

"Oh really? Who?"

"Jess is coming over from California."

"Jess!" Lorelai nearly spit out her coffee.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because it's Jess! Look, he doesn't have the best record here in Stars Hollow."

"I know, but I think he's changed. I'm willing to give him one more chance."

"What about Rory?" asked Lorelai. "What do you think this will do to her?"

"I don't know."

"Jess didn't exactly leave on a good note last time."

"I know! I really think he's changed. He's got a house and a job and everything. He's doing so much better."

"That doesn't change what happened before."

"I know that. I just…I really want him to be there…I mean, he is my nephew and he spent a good part of his childhood here. He's like my nonexistent son." Luke looked at Lorelai with pleading eyes.

"Hey, I'm not worried about _your_ relationship with him. It's Rory that I'm worried about. I don't know how she'll take all of this. She _is_ the maid of honor, so they'll have to at least look at each other…"

"Rory's the maid of honor?"

"Yeah, didn't I tell you that?"

"No! Man, you think she would tell me something like this. She does work here." Luke was starting to get worried.

"Luke. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong is that Rory and Jess are going to be the maid of honor and the best man at our wedding."

"I did actually know that."

"This is _not_ going to end well."

"Uh, why not?"

"Because it's Jess and Rory!"

"I knew that too. Hey, you told me not two minutes ago that everything would be fine."

"That was before I know that Rory was going to be the maid of honor!"

"What did you expect? That I'd get Miss Patty out there in a strappy dress?"

"Bad imagery there, Lorelai."

"Sorry. But seriously, who did you think I would invite?"

"I don't know, I just didn't think it would be Rory."

"She's my daughter! She works with you, Luke!"

"I know." Luke sighed.

"She works a minute away from our house, yet she lives with my parents all the way in Hartford. Hartford!"

"I know, Lor, I know."

"It's all my fault. I'm the one that kicked her out. I told her she couldn't come home and just hang around Stars Hollow. She turned to them for help. And you helped her too. You're the only person that I can hold onto, it seems." She started to cry.

"Shh, it's ok. Come here. I'll always be here, you know that, right?"

Lorelai just nodded. "I've got to get back to the Inn. Sookie must be killing Michel by now."

"You sure you're going to be ok?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Lorelai assured him. "Thanks for all of this. And for finally getting a best man, although _I_ wouldn't have chosen Jess."

"Yeah, Yeah. I know. If it makes you happy, know that I'll be kicking myself about this for the rest of my life."

"Oh yeah, that cheered me right up!" Lorelai laughed and went out the door. The only reminder that she had ever been there was the soft tinkling of the bell.


	2. A Violent, Tipsy Place

**So I haven't updated in ahem let's settle with a _long_ time, but there's only one chapter anyway so for any new readers it's not a lot to catch up on. And because I didn't update for so long, I put up two chapter instead of just one. I do have a lot of story continuation ideas, so hopefully this fic will be continued on a more regular basis from here on out.**

"Hey! Come on in. You can go upstairs and put your stuff on the couch. I'll be right up." Luke smiled at his nephew. Man had he changed. Gone was the leather jacket and _Metallica_ shirt. Gone was the _black_.

"Yeah, ok. Thanks" Jess replied.

Luke just nodded and ran off to argue with Kirk about the taxes on his order. He was glad that Rory was on her break. He didn't want the confrontation to be this soon. Maybe give Jess a little room and some time to think about what to do when he ran into her.

Upstairs, Jess walked into Luke's apartment. He immediately felt sixteen again, with Rory on that couch…how they had checked every ten minutes to make sure that the couple wasn't doing anything really bad. He missed those days, before he had gone to California, before he had told Rory that he loved her. He was broken out of his reverie when Luke came through the door.

"Hey! You don't look like you have much."

"I pack light."

"Right."

"I think I'll go downstairs and grab a bite to eat." Jess started to move past his uncle.

"No! I mean, there's the lunch rush and you could get hurt…or something." Luke knew that Rory had come back from her break. She was downstairs waiting tables and he really didn't want Jess to see her.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You're acting a little tipsy."

"What? No! I'm telling you, when people come in here for lunch, they're violent."

"Since when has Stars Hollow been violent? Nobody in this whole damn town could hurt a fly." Jess was getting annoyed. He just wanted some food.

"No, Taylor killed a bumblebee the other day. You're wrong."

"Luke! Taylor's killing of a stupid bee has nothing to do with my needing food. Now get out of the way, or tell me what's going on."

Luke sighed. "Rory's down there."

"What? Why is Rory down there?" Jess checked his watch. "Doesn't she have school? Classes?"

"Look, Jess, she isn't going to Yale, she took a year off."

"Why? She didn't get some weird illness or something, did she? Is she OK? Does Lorelai know about this?"

"What do you think? Of course she knows about it. Rory _is_ her daughter, Jess, even though they might not be on speaking terms right now."

Jess sat down. OK, you have got to explain this whole thing to me right now."

Luke sat down opposite him. "Rory had a boyfriend at Yale, Logan. About a year ago, he invited her to dinner with his parents. His mother and grandparents attacked Rory, telling her that she wasn't good enough to marry into the Huntzberger family. As a way of apologizing, Logan's father offered Rory a job at a small, growing newspaper. She, unfortunately, accepted."

"This is not going to end well…"

"Logan's father let her work there for about two weeks before he called her into his office and told her that she would make a great secretary, but that she didn't have the makings of a journalist. She didn't take that too well. I mean, come on, this is Rory, she has wanted to be a journalist since she was like four. Anyway, she ended up convincing Logan to steal a yacht, and-"

"They got caught."

"Yeah. Well, you've stolen things like that. You know what happened. She was not convicted of anything, but since she was convinced that she was not going to be a journalist, she quit Yale. She says she's only going to a year off. In the meantime, she's living with her grandparents and Lorelai and her are barely speaking."

"Wow. Just, wow. A lot has happened since I left." Jess was having a hard time digesting all of this at one time.

"I think the fact that you broke her heart, asking her to leave with you…I don't think that helped either."

"You have no idea how bad I feel about that. I just…I wish it could all go back to the way it was, you know, before I did all that stuff…I just…" Jess felt the weight of the past years falling down on him.

"I know. Let's go get some food. It's not like you can avoid Rory for the rest of the time."

"I guess. I can't wait to see the expression on her face when she sees me, though." Jess laughed.

"Jess!"

"Kidding. Jeeze. Let's go."

"Fine." Luke walked out of the office, followed closely by his nephew. _This is going to be one hell of a party_.


	3. Making Out in the Gazebo

Rory's first reaction was to be angry. Then she was happy to see him, embarrassment followed the happiness, but she settled back on anger. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Came back for the wedding. Best man or whatever."

"Right. Well, that doesn't mean I have to speak to you." Rory went behind the counter to start a new pot of coffee.

"Nice to see you too. Don't you want more of an explanation?"

"No. In fact, I would rather not talk to you at all."

"Fine. Then I'll talk to you. What I did was wrong. I know it was wrong, but I didn't know what else to do. What I said was true. I loved you. I think it still is true. I don't know how you feel, and you probably aren't in the mood to tell me anyway. I'll leave you alone, but I just wanted you to know that." Jess, scared about what might happen if he hung around, quickly left the diner and a gaping Rory behind.

Luke came out of the storeroom. "Hey, Rory, can you deal with the table by the window?"

Rory glanced over to the window table, where Kirk was sitting. "I'm taking my break."

"But you can't just leave, it's the lunch rush!"

"I'll be back before you know it." Rory took off her apron and put down the coffee pot before rushing out of the diner.

She knew where Jess was going to go. As soon as she had walked out of the diner, she was on autopilot. She was scared about seeing him. She didn't know what she was going to say. She figured it was best to just let him do the leading in this particular conversation.

As soon as the bridge came into sight, all the memories came crashing down on Rory. She tiptoed over to Jess, startling him when she sat down next to him.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"So, you left pretty quickly after that little speech."

"Yeah, I figured you would probably hate me more anyway."

"You were wrong."

"Ok."

Rory loved that about Jess, how he never asked too many questions. He always let the other person say what they wanted to say.

They sat in silence for a while, just watching the water.

Suddenly Rory was talking. "What you did was wrong, but I know it was true. I knew it then, and I know it now. I don't know if I felt the same way, but I know that I never really got over you. I think I may have loved you. I think you should know that."

"Rory—"

She interrupted him. "No, it's my turn. You told me you loved me, and then you disappeared. I didn't know where you went. I had just gotten over you leaving, and then you came back. I was devastated. You did something to me that I'll never fully forgive you for. If you had stayed around, it could have worked. But you didn't even want to try. I don't know why, but you didn't. I told myself I was over you. I made a 'Jess' box. It was all going to be ok. And now you're back and I don't know what I'm supposed to do or feel or say…"

All of a sudden Jess was hugging her and she was crying. She didn't know why she was crying, exactly, but she could feel the tears running down her face and into his shirt, soaking his shoulder.

"It's gonna be ok. It'll be fine." Jess wasn't real good at the compassion thing, but he did his best.

He held her for a while, rocking back and forth and whispering into her hair.

When Rory finally pulled away from Jess, she looked like she had just woken up from a bad dream. Her hair was a mess and her face was streaked with makeup.

"Look at me. I'm not this kind of girl."

"What kind of girl is that, exactly?"

"The kind of girl that just falls apart as soon as her ex-boyfriend reappears."

Just had to suppress a laugh. "I didn't know that was a kind of girl."

"Not funny."

"No humor for the Gilmore. Got it."

"I feel pathetic. I need ice cream."

"Why?"

"Because I feel less pathetic when eating, and I like ice cream."

"Right. I will get you ice cream."

"No. I don't want you doing me favors."

"Then don't think of it as a favor."

"What else would it be?"

"I don't know. I'll be right back with your ice cream. Stay here, please, and no jumping in the lake."

"Fine Mr. Bossy, I will wait here for my ice cream, which better come fast."

Jess smiled and walked back in the direction he had come from, the smile still plastered to his face. _Maybe things won't be so bad._

Meanwhile, Rory was scared out of her mind. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. _I can't do this! What if Jess wants to get back together! What if I want to get back together?_ She was freaking out, and she had reason to be.

"Hey, you. I need massive amounts of coffee and does anything else contain large amounts of caffeine that I can consume in…three minutes?" Lorelai walked up to the counter and kissed Luke. "Speaking of which, where is Jess? He came in today, right?"

"How is that related to coffee and large amount of caffeine?" Luke was confused.

"I don't know. I just wanted to ask."

"Anyway, yes, Jess came in today, confessed his feeling for Rory, left, and Rory went after him. This all happened about an hour ago, and I haven't seen either one of them since."

"Wow, you think they're making out in the gazebo?" Lorelai smiled at her own joke.

"No…I hope not. Do you really think they are?"

"Relax, Luke, they haven't seen each other in years, I bet they're just catching up. But hey, we could tell Patty that we saw them making out. Big news for the gossip mill." Lorelai tried to look innocent, but she couldn't suppress the glint in her eyes.

"Absolutely not! It would be all over town in an hour, and…you're joking." Luke usually caught his girlfriend's jokes, but he was in a particularly non-humorous mood at the moment.

"Fine, I will stop joking. Now where's that coffee?"

"Behind you."

"Oh cool, do you suddenly have like levitating powers so you can make the coffee pit float behind me using nothing but your eyes?" Lorelai smiled, and then turned around when she noticed that Luke had his eyes fixated above her head. She turned around and was suddenly looking straight into Jess' eyes.

How was he supposed to greet her? Hug? Handshake? "Hi." He settled with the simple verbal approach.

"Hi, Jess. Long time no see."


End file.
